Becoming a cycle-friendly employer

Becoming a cycle-friendly employer makes sense. Encouraging cycling helps tackle the business costs of congestion, reduces an organisation's impact on the local and wider environment and even attracts some tax incentives. What's more, it's likely that levels of absenteeism will drop.

Commuter

Many UK towns and cities have a traffic problem - too many cars, poor air quality, congested streets and limited car-parking spaces. This is particularly bad during rush hours, with mass migration of people to and from their workplaces.

This costs businesses time and money: staff are delayed because of traffic jams; company car-parking spaces are in short supply and mileage costs are rising. Cycling, however, is often faster than driving - particularly over short distances and when the roads are packed. It's easier for cyclists to bypass traffic jams, for instance, and they don't need much space at all to park once they arrive at work.

Encouraging employees to cycle to work and on business can result in a healthier, more productive workforce too. Cyclists tend to take fewer days off sick and save a company money.

There are a number of ways in which an employer can become cycle-friendly. In particular, they can: